Like the first article in The Post’s series, the latest story willfully ignores the reality of Social Security disability benefits, instead relying on flawed data and flowery writing and anecdotes to paint a cartoonish picture of rural America overtaken by a “culture of disability.” As my colleague Kate Gallagher Robbins pointed out on Twitter, the piece reads like a work of fiction.
If Republican budget hawks like Price truly cared about seniors, children, the disabled, and other vulnerable segments of society, they would not be slashing safety net programs.
via Entitled to Know.
Unfortunately, the cold facts do not deter the administration’s propagandists from insisting that many SSDI beneficiaries are somehow undeserving of help – even though they must have worked and paid into Social Security for five of the past ten years before applying.
via Entitled to Know.
AHCA’s > $800B in reduced Medicaid funding has implications for 6M seniors & 10M nonelderly people w/ disabilities.
Related Reading:
- The bill contains several other poison pills for older Americans. It replaces Obamacare subsidies with meager tax credits which discriminate against older Americans. A $4,000 annual tax credit doesn’t come to close to covering premiums for seniors ages 60-64, meaning millions of older Americans will lose coverage altogether.
- The bill cuts nearly $1 trillion from Medicaid by converting it into a block grant program or imposing per capita caps, which will make it harder for impoverished seniors to access long term skilled nursing care and community or home care. Overall, the Congressional Budget Office estimates that 14 million people will be kicked off the Medicaid rolls in the next 10 years if this bill becomes law.
The Washington Post’s editorial board used its paper’s own flawed profile of Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) recipients to justify the unsubstantiated claim that the program discourages people with disabilities from working and therefore “needs reform” in the form of increased restrictions and benefit cuts.
via Media Matters.
Related Reading:
Disability Insurance is Part of Social Security Whether Mick Mulvaney Likes It or Not.
At a senior center, Presidential Candidate Rand Paul made it a point to attack the disabled.
Social Security also provides protection to disabled adult children who were disabled before reaching age 22 and who are unmarried.
Eleanor’s Hope via Parents Depend on Social Security Benefits for Their Children.
According to the latest government figures, 6.4 million Americans over age 65 are living in poverty. In Florida, 11 percent of seniors over 65 live below the poverty line, which is $11,770 a year for a senior living alone. Florida shares the spot for eighth-highest poverty rate among seniors in the nation.
via Miami Herald.
Related Reading:
- Why Seniors Need a CPI-E.
- The goal was to more accurately measure the prices and inflation seniors
face, ultimately leading to more representative cost of living
adjustments (COLAs) for America’s retirees. Never in my wildest dreams
could I have predicted that, 26 years later, our nation would still be
without an accurate CPI formula for millions of seniors, and that the
CPI-E would still be considered “experimental.”
For millions of American women, unpaid caregiving becomes a financial emergency, and on average accounts for $324,000 in lost wages and Social Security benefits in a caregiver’s lifetime.
Lowey’s proposal has been endorsed by 19 national organizations, including the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, the National Organization for Women (NOW), and the National Alliance for Caregiving. (A full list is at the bottom of this release.)
via Rep. Lowey.
Related Reading:
- Letter Endorsing Social Security Caregiver Credit Act of 2015.
- Because of the way that Social Security benefits are calculated,
temporary interruptions in a person’s participation in the labor force
can lead to a significant reduction in the amount of that person’s
Social Security benefit.
Social Security is family security. Not only is it a retirement program but children and the disabled receive benefits too.
ACTION ALERT!
While we all want good highways, Congress should not pay for them by cutting Social Security for seniors, people with disabilities and their families.
Call: 800-998-0180 to be connected with your Representative and tell them Social Security is not their ATM to be used for non-related legislation.
UPDATE (as of 7/23/2015 at 11:35am):
Seniors Applaud Senate Reversal on Plan to Cut Social Security to Pay for Highway Bill.
Learn more about The Faces and Facts of Disability at the Social Security Administration’s website by clicking here or the graphic above.